Naomi Broady and Jelena Ostapenko have a fiery exchange after their controversial match at the ASB Classic.
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However that was nothing compared to the histrionic scenes after British No 3’s latest win today when Jelena Ostapenko, her opponent, escaped disqualification for appearing to vent her displeasure by throwing her racket at a ball boy.
Broady, who had upset second seed Ana Ivanovic in the first round, staved off three match points to win 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 7-5 in Auckland on Wednesday.
Umpire Blaze Trifunobski had to step in and the war of words continued afterwards. The racquet hit the wall and rebounded into the ball boy but the umpire deemed it accidental, much to Broady’s disgust. (High fives self.) The ballboy was summoned to tell his side of the story and eventually tournament referees and officials assigned a code violation to Ostapenko, who had insisted all along that it was an accident and her racket “slipped”.
After the incident, the ball boy was called to the umpires’ chair, and confirmed the racquet had hit him on the shoulder.
Powering down 21 aces, No. 122 Broady saved a match point in both the second and third sets to make her second WTA quarterfinal (2015 Québec City).
Broady’s play was also sloppier than her opponent’s.
“I think it was quite clear that she threw her racket and it hit a ball kid, which should be straight disqualified”, she said.
According to WTA regulations, “the players shall not at any time physically abuse any official, opponent, spectator or other person…for the purposes of this rule, physical abuse is the unauthorized touching of an official, opponent and spectator (any) or other person”.
“My coach said before the match the biggest thing would be believing you could win”, Broady said. “I have to explain to them that I have won a good match and they just don’t get it”.
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The British number three now goes on to face fifth seed Sloane Stephens in the next round.
